The prior art teaches the preparation of quaternary ammonium cellulose anion exchangers (see Benerito, Woodward and Guthrie, Analytical Chemistry 37, page 1693 [1965] and U.S. Pat. No. 3,644,082) by the lower alkyl halide alkylation of diethylaminoethyl (DEAE) celluloses under anhydrous conditions.
In contrast to the prior art, the present invention relates to the unique properties of quaternary ammonium groups as occur in the cellulose matrix of those products described in the prior art as well as those disclosed in the foregoing related copending applications, wherein according to this invention these products act as stabilizers for a variety of anions that can be used as oxidizing or reducing reagents in a variety of applications. Because of the large size of the quaternary ammonium groups (N.sup.+R.sub.4) and its polarizability, it can be considered as a "soft" group rather than a "hard" group as defined by the Hard-Soft acid base theory of chemical reactions as proposed by Pearson in the J. of Chemical Education, Vol. 45, No. 9, pp. 581-587, No. 10, pp. 643-648, 1968. Also, because of the effect of such large NR.sub.4 .sup.+ charged groups on the structure of water, the tendency of NR.sub.4 .sup.+ groups and other "soft " anions, such as O.sub.2 .sup.- and SC.sup.-N, would be to associate in the presence of water to lessen the changes in entropy and energy occurring when water is added to a substance having both a soft NR.sub.4 .sup.+ group and a soft anionic group. Therefore, this instant invention is a process whereby NR.sub.4 .sup.+ groups in a cellulose matrix can be used to advantage to protect or stabilize selected anions that might be too reactive in aqueous media when in the presence of common alkali metal cations like Na.sup.+ or K.sup.+. This invention relates to a process comprising a sequence of steps carried out under anhydrous conditions to yield a product that contains mono-quaternary ammonium cations or diquaternary ammonium cations associated with anions many of which could not be introduced into the matrix in the presence of water, but once introduced in non-aqueous conditions can then be used over a period of time in aqueous media because of the stabilizing or protective properties of the quaternary groups with which the anions are associated in the polymeric cellulosic matrices.